Tough talk: Seahawks react to Mora’s criticism

Chris Spencer has started 11 games at center this season, but will be replaced this Sunday by rookie Max Unger as coach Jim Mora searches for leadership and toughness on his offensive line. (Getty Images/Dilip Vishwanat)

Seattle Seahawks coach Jim Mora has called out his offensive line this week, making changes and questioning their toughness. And, yeah, the message has been heard.

Left guard Rob Sims, probably the best of the line this season and one guy whose job isn’t in immediate jeopardy, said his teammates are professionals and will deal with things head on.

But there is obviously some unrest among the group after rookie Max Unger was moved to center and veteran Chris Spencer shifted to Unger’s right guard spot and told he’s competing with Mike Gibson, who was picked up off the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad two months ago and has never been active for a game in two seasons in the NFL.

“We understand how things works in this business,” Sims said. “Stuff flows downhill and unfortunately offensive linemen are at the bottom of the totem pole.

“It’s been like that since football started and it’ll be like that ’til it ends. Still every guy in that locker room is going to handle it the way we need to handle it and do everything we can to make the team win.”

Spencer was the team’s first-round draft pick in 2005, but is in the final year of his initial contract and appears on the verge of losing his place in the franchise as the team wants to look at Unger at center the final three games.

Spencer will move to right guard, but Mora said Gibson will see time at that spot as well during Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay.

Mike Gibson

Gibson spent last year on injured reserve with the Eagles and has been inactive for each of his eight games since being claimed by Seattle, but has impressed Mora enough in practice to get moved into the mix this week ahead of veterans Mansfield Wrotto and Steve Vallos.

“All I know is I have an opportunity to play,” Gibson said, “and I plan on taking full advantage of it and hopefully not give them a chance to take me out of the game. That’s the plan.”

Spencer played guard for a few games in his first season as a starter in 2006, but has been at center ever since.

He’s performed with a cast on his right hand to protect a fractured thumb the last five weeks, which led to trouble with the center snap several times in the team’s 34-7 loss at Houston last week.

Spencer wasn’t available to the media after Wednesday’s practice, but Sims spoke up for his teammate when asked the reaction to Mora’s toughness challenge.

Rob Sims

“Everybody at this time, their bodies are beat up,” Sims said. “I’m not sure. I don’t see how much you can get tougher. Spence has a broken thumb and is snapping with his left hand and has a messed-up elbow that is probably my fault.

“I’m going to have to ask Coach Mora exactly what he means by toughness. But I know my guys up in that (offensive line) room, we play with pain, we don’t get much credit for what we do do, and the stuff we do bad we get ridiculed for.

“So as far as tough goes, I don’t know. But he’s the head man. Whatever he says goes. Like I said, we just have to meet him wherever he wants us to do. I’m about to go up there and watch more film with Coach (Mike) Solari because I want to know exactly what they want from me so I can give it to them.”

Mora said he wants to see more nastiness from all his men in the trenches.

“It has to be something you have within you,” said Mora. “Some people have it, some people don’t. Some people have a smidgen of it and it can grow in them. Some people, it never will.

“If you’re going to be a good offensive lineman I think you have to be a little bit of a dirtbag. Not as a person, but on the football field. Because in the pit, where all that stuff goes down, if you don’t have some frickin’ toughness, you’re going to fail, you know? You’re going to fail.”

Mora said said losing veteran guard Mike Wahle prior to the season seemed to sap some of the line’s tough-guy leadership and left a void.

“I think we’re kind of waiting for someone to step in and do it and I don’t know that it’s happened like I wanted it to,” he said.

Mora also got animated in talking about how he wanted left tackle Sean Locklear to get nastier and knock people down and play a complete game.

Sean Locklear

“He’s angry,” Locklear said, “and rightfully so. We went (to Houston) and from the opening snap we got embarrassed. We all knew it. We don’t need to be told that. We were on the field playing. So he’s upset. Even now he’s still got a chip on his shoulder, so we all have to take it to heart and get ready for Sunday.”

Unger is in the tough position of being the rookie pushed into a veteran’s role as the leader of the line, so he wasn’t doing cartwheels Wednesday either in deference to his teammates.

“Obviously the optimal situation would be Chris at center, but it kind of came down and it’s something we just have to deal with,” he said. “It’s not optimal for really anybody on the line. We’d like to stay at our spots that we started at for most of the season.

“I really enjoyed playing guard and I really got comfortable there. It’s an opportunity, yeah, but at the same time I started (13) games this year at right guard and I definitely feel the best there. Having one week to prepare isn’t exactly what I wanted. No one really wanted it to go down exactly like this, but it’s kind of what we have to do.”

Both offensive coordinator Greg Knapp and line coach Mike Solari said Spencer’s thumb injury and the center-exchange problems were the catalyst behind the change, but Mora said there was more to it than that.

From his perspective, the Seahawks need to use these final three games to figure out if Unger is best suited for center and to begin finding the right pieces for the future.

“It’s been rough,” Sims said. “But Chris and Max are both very professional and we just have to move on. We all know we have to fix some stuff. In this game, you have to be as close to perfect as you can, because if you’re not, you go home.”